Spider Girl from Naked Star (NSFW)

Think of all the weird things that one instantly associates with Japanese culture. Wacky television game shows. Green tea-flavored Coke. Tentacle rape. What culture on this planet could spawn these things but the one that made eating raw fish not just mainstream but fashionable?

So when I saw this figure, it didn’t even faze me. If you’re at all familiar with Japanese pop culture, you take this sort of strangeness as a matter of course. Actually, the first thing I thought was that this figure looked really cute. Really shy. Like she’s hiding a secret. I guess that’s one way to put it.

Incidentally, if anybody reading this is looking for May Parker, this is not the Spider Girl that you’re looking for.

The Spider Girl is made by First Class, and that’s probably not a name that many collectors are familiar with. I first heard of them a year or so ago, and it took me a while to remember where I had read about them. I initially came across First Class’s work through a review on Heisei Democracy, where Shingo had purchased one of First Class’s earliest figures and found it disappointing. Like Shingo, I’m generally quite positive about any figure I review for the obvious reason that if I spend money on a figure, it’s because I liked it from the start, and I’m not inclined to blow cash on something that I think I’m going to hate. I felt some trepidation after revisiting that review, but the sheer novelty of this figure overruled my misgivings.

One of First Class’s founders goes by the handle “kyo montana,” and he ran a company blog for a while. It may have been moved or discontinued altogether, as it hasn’t been updated in a year. He appears to be a fan of former NFL quarterback Joe Montana, as his avatar is a stylized football player wearing #3, the jersey number the real Montana wore at Notre Dame.

Personal aside: when I was a little kid, I collected football cards and being a 49ers fan, Joe Montana’s rookie card was the card I wanted the most. However, it was worth around $200 back then and there was no way I could afford it.

The Spider Girl sadly has no name; I should come up with a cute Japanese girl’s name for her. She stands around 20.5 centimeters tall and is sculpted in 1/8 scale.

The Spider Girl’s origin is found within the pages of Naked Star, a compilation manga drawn by Ogure Ito, better known by his pen name Oh! great. He’s most famous for Tenjho Tenge, Air Gear, and designing the character Ashlotte in Soul Calibur IV, but he’s worked on a healthy amount of hentai stuff as well. As one might guess, Naked Star falls squarely in that category.

I was curious (read: worried) about First Class’s manufacturing quality, and when I unboxed the spider girl, my concern was justified, as she had a couple of prominent paint chips on her head:

I’m quite sure she wasn’t supposed to be manufactured this way, as the chips aren’t evident on Hobby Search’s sample photos (which they have hidden from the English-speaking peoples of the world). The chips bothered me a great deal, so I grabbed my paint bottles, mixed up something that looked relatively close to her hair color and carefully painted them in. I think she looks a good deal better now.

This figure is castoff-able and she gets three sets of clothing. Her full ensemble comprises a blazer and a miniskirt. The skirt can be replaced with the tail of an open dress shirt, which reveals and frames the eponymous spider in all its glory. Lastly, she can be stripped down to her skivvies. Just like the Shuraki girls.

The castoff process is quite conventional; her head pops off and her torso is separated just under her bust, and her arms come off. She has separate colored shoulder pieces which detach from both arm and torso. Her jacket is made of flexible plastic with seams down its sides. While getting it off is simple, getting it back on was quite a bit more difficult. There are a series of very narrow pegs protruding from one edge of the seam which mate up with holes in the other edge. As these pegs are flexible, I found it difficult to get them aligned properly. I didn’t really see this as a big deal as I don’t plan on putting her clothes back on her anyway. Her panties just sort of slide freely up and down her legs; they are separated on one side and I don’t think there is a way to join them together short of using glue.

One other thing I should note is that there’s a fairly prominent gap between her arm and torso on her left side where the limb detaches. If you let her keep her clothes, this isn’t a problem, but it is there if you don’t. Her right arm fits much more tightly and there isn’t such a gap on that side.

I mentioned the paint chips earlier, but how is the rest of the figure? Not too bad, actually. In particular, I really like how her hair is sculpted and painted (chips notwithstanding); it’s shaded very well, and her tresses have a good bit of definition rather than the flat helmet hair you see so often.

Similarly, her body sculpt is pretty nice. She’s got a slim build and a very cute pose. I sort of wish her butt were more substantial but I suppose she doesn’t look like the sort of girl who is going to go pound out squats in the gym.

I really like the way First Class sculpted and painted her face. She looks cute and innocent and bemused, as if having a spider gnawing on one’s crotch was the most perfectly normal occurrence in the world. It’s actually a bit unfaithful to the original artwork, in which the spider girl looks as if she is in the throes of postcoital bliss. Also, the paintwork is quite a bit smoother than that shown in the original publicity photos.

I’ve barely even talked about the spider. Man, is that a wacky thing to put there or what? I really wonder how this figure came to be; did somebody over in the First Class office bring a copy of Naked Star in and throw it down on a conference table and exclaim, “Hey guys, wouldn’t this make an awesome figure?”

Spiders are one of the most successful creatures on Earth, and can be found in almost any climate and terrain. Some live in arid environments, but this particular example clearly prefers warm, moist places.

My concerns regarding First Class’s reputation weren’t going to stop me from buying this figure, but now that I have it I’m pretty happy that it actually turned out alright. I really like her character design, and the concept is absolutely awesome. At the least, she’s certainly an attention-getter. I might have to take another look at First Class’s upcoming Sister Hell figure.

The figure is great, and I like her face’s expression ^^ Maybe I shall have bought her if the spider was not there and what her panties were not like that ^^ But it’s really an original figure ^^’ It is necessary to like. Congratulation for yours pictures ^^

You dared yo buy it…. i envy you. I wasn’t sure for two things : quality (who finally is not so bad) because i didn’t know the fabricant and the spider who let me puzzled. Yet i liked the face at the first sight and your photos confirm my love for this innocent cute face. It’s true that it differ from original illustration but fortunately, she’s much better like this.
You did well on painting little defects.
Your photos are perfect.:)

>> lightningsabre
Indeed! The spider is in a different location, but nobody is going to miss seeing it XD

>> Leonia
I think it’s kinda funny how this is not only a cute figure with a pretty standard schoolgirl outfit, but also one of the raunchiest figures you can buy. I have the feeling the spider is going to scare off a lot of people (and attract a few).

>> Lylibellule
I did! I saw this figure and I thought, “The sculptor and I see the world exactly the same way.” I agree, I think I like her cute face rather than the way her face is drawn in the illustration.

>> gundamjehutykai
I’ve been meaning to read Tenjo Tenge, but the whole CMX censorship deal deterred me from picking it up. I wonder if they ever backed off the editing or not.

I like to think of that as a real spider XD The luckiest spider in the world. A pimp among spiders. Either way, it definitely is going to scare people off.

I’ve got the feeling that my preferences in figures is definitely outside of the mainstream XD It’s kinda funny how this would be a pretty good, cute schoolgirl in a mildly scandalous outfit if it weren’t for the spider, but the bug elevates it to an unprecedented level of wackiness.

I dont know If i should be happy or sad that I knew this figure beforehand and looked forward to reading this review ^^;;;

And ultimately I hoped for a sentence like this one :but this particular example clearly prefers warm, moist places.

I was never really able to judge from the pictures if the spider was crawling out of her pussy or not.The fact that the spider seems to hang from the ceiling is a strong indicator that shes not but all those juices indicate it is crawling out…

You should be proud! It takes someone who is dedicated to the hobby to know of a figure like this. I’m guessing that it’s going in, since the abdomen end seems to be sticking up in the air; if I were the spider, I wouldn’t want to crawl out.

I just recently bought this figure and I have a problem with the upper and lower part of her body fitting together. It leaves quite a gap under her bra. Also, I can’t get the blazer to fit together properly (may be caused by the previous problem). The shoulder seams always stay open.

P.S.: If someone doest’t like the spider down there, it is possible to rip it out. After scraping off some residue between her legs it looks like a normal nude figure. Also the spider can be put back into it’s original place and holds there even without gluing it back on.

I think I had the same problem, though I don’t recall that it was as prominent as the gap in her left arm. I guess I’d chalk it up to poor quality control; First Class seems to not be a very large figure manufacturer. It seems they haven’t even made any figures in the last half year.

Thanks for confirming that the spider is removable. To me, though, the spider is a big part of the fun and appeal of this figure, so I’m definitely leaving it on her XD